“It’s your last day,” he said, taking his first bite of omelette. “This is terrific, by the way.”
“I’ll give Sonny your compliments.” Then added cheerfully, “And I wouldn’t bet on this being my last day, if I were you. You’d lose.”
“We’ll see.”
He said it so smugly, as if there were some angle she hadn’t considered, that it gave Katie pause. Regarding him speculatively, she moved on to another table. If he wanted more coffee or more anything, too bad, she thought with a touch of defiance. She’d spend her energy on customers who appreciated her waitressing skills. Luke probably wouldn’t even leave a tip. He probably thought he’d already tipped her well enough by depositing that check into her account.
The next time she glanced toward Luke’s booth, it was well after nine o’clock. He was sitting there scribbling notes on a tablet he’d apparently filched from Peg’s supply under the cash register. There was no sign of Robby.
With only one other customer in the place chatting happily with Ginger at the counter, Katie couldn’t think of a single way to go on avoiding her husband. She poured herself a cup of coffee and carried it with her to his table, then slid in opposite him. He glanced up.
“All done making your point?” he inquired.
“And what point would that be?”
“That I can’t run your life.”
Katie regarded him intently. “I’m not sure. Have I gotten it through that thick skull of yours yet?”
“Only the first layer. Maybe you’d better try explaining to me why you want to work yourself to death this way.”
Okay, Katie thought, that was a reasonable enough request. She tried to formulate an explanation that wouldn’t cause him to order her to shut down the boarding house instead. Luke seemed to have turned into an either-or sort of guy. She had to make him see that both jobs were essential to her.
“I love the boarding house,” she began. “I poured all of my energy into it.”
“To say nothing of your money,” he reminded her.
She frowned at him and he held up his hands. “Sorry,” he said. “Go on.”
“But Ginger and the others all have their own lives. Sometimes I just need a break from all the quiet, from doing laundry and dusting. I like coming in here and hearing what’s going on around town. I like meeting the tourists. Plus I owe Peg. I get a sense of satisfaction from being able to pay her back in some small way for all she did for me. Having the boarding house and the diner gives me a sort of balance in my life.”
To Luke’s credit he listened to every word she said, but his expression grew bleaker by the minute. Katie didn’t understand his reaction.
“You still don’t understand, do you?” she asked.
“I understand,” he said flatly. Blue eyes met hers. “But where in this equation do Robby and I fit in?”
Katie felt as if all the breath had whooshed right out of her. “Is that what you’re worried about? That I won’t have time for the two of you?”
“There are only twenty-four hours in a day,” he reminded her. “You’re already cramming them to the max.”
Katie was stunned that he would think that he and his son would get only whatever leftover minutes she could salvage from an already overburdened schedule. Maybe what astonished her even more was the fact that it really seemed to matter to him at all.
“I suppose I hadn’t thought about how it would seem to you,” she admitted honestly. She looked directly into his eyes. “But, Luke, you and Robby will always be my first priority. I meant every word I said when we took our vows.”
He was regarding her doubtfully. “Every word?”
“Of course.”
“What about obey?” he teased, his expression suddenly lighter.
“That word was never spoken,” she retorted.
“Oh, I’m certain it was. Love, honor and obey, wasn’t that it? I’m sure Justice of the Peace Abernathy read from a very traditional version of the ceremony.”
“Absolutely not. I would have remembered.”
He grinned and reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. “You do remember the love and honor part, though?”
“Vaguely,” she murmured, barely able to concentrate for all the dangerous sensations rioting through her.
“Maybe we should talk about that in more detail later, when we’re alone,” Luke suggested.
“Uh-huh,” Katie managed when she could catch her breath. This was not good, not good at all. “I’d better go now.”
Luke’s grin widened. “Where?”
She shook her head to clear it, then glanced desperately around for someplace, anyplace she might be needed in a very big hurry. “The kitchen,” she said hurriedly. “I have to help clean up in the kitchen.”
“All done,” Peg sang out.
“Now what?” Luke inquired with that lazy, smug expression firmly back in place.
“I have to go...” she racked her brain “...to the store. I have to get food for the boarders.”
“They’re staying at the hotel, remember?”
“That’s ridiculous,” Katie countered. “I’ll tell them to come home. They shouldn’t be spending their money on hotel rooms, when they’ve already paid me.”
“I’m paying for their rooms,” Luke said. “I’m sure Mr. O’Reilly’s in heaven with room service at his command. You wouldn’t want to spoil it for him, would you?”
She sighed. “I suppose not.”
Luke gave a little nod of satisfaction, then stood, leaned down and kissed her in a slow, leisurely fashion that melted every single bone in her body. “I’ll be waiting for you at home.”
Thoroughly dazed, Katie simply stared after him as he strolled from the diner.
“Whew!” Ginger said, emerging from the kitchen waving a dish towel in front of her face. “That man is hot enough to fry bacon.” Realizing what she’d said and about whom, she winced and turned an apologetic look on Katie. “Sorry.”
“For what?” Peg interjected. “Appreciating a man who could turn the Arctic into steam heat?” At Katie’s look of astonishment, she added, “Well, it’s true. Luke does have a certain way about him.”
A possessive smile crept over Katie’s face. “Yes,” she said finally. “He does indeed have a way
